Demand for tourism in Europe is expected to continue its momentum of growth in 2019 as per the quarterly report ‘European Tourism – Trends & Prospects 2019’ by the European Travel Commission (ETC). A growth rate of 3.6 percent is predicted despite uncertain trade relationships between China and the US and slowing Chinese travel demand. The expected growth of international tourist arrivals is in line with the annual historical average from 2008-2018, but lower than that of 2018 (6.1 percent).
In terms of international tourist arrivals growth, the Balkan region was the top performer – Montenegro (+50 percent), Slovenia (+8 percent) and Greece (+8 percent). This was possible due to the benefits of expanded tourism season and niche marketing. Montenegro has benefited from improved air transport accessibility and several promotional activities implemented by national tourism authorities.
For Slovenia, a recent win for Ljubljana and Bled (runner-up spot) at the ITB Berlin is indicative of the country’s efforts to attract travel demand. On the other hand, Iceland (-11 percent), Romania (-7 percent) and Estonia (-2 percent) have reported a decrease up to April.
Globally, Europe has outperformed all other regions, posting 7 percent growth in revenue per kilometer (RPK) in the first four months of the year compared to the previous year. This comes despite the pressure of increased demand and constrained air-traffic control capacity, which has had the impact of increasing possible delays and cancellations, which already had an estimated cost of 17.6 billion euros in 2018 to the EU economy.
Among Europe’s key long-haul source markets, the US and China continue to stand out in terms of their contributions to European tourism growth accounting for a share of 11 percent and 4 percent respectively. Chinese travellers concentrated mainly in Southern/Mediterranean destinations: Montenegro (+150 percent), Cyprus (+62 percent), and Croatia (+44 percent). Another fast-growing destination in terms of Chinese arrivals was Lithuania (+77 percent). Interestingly, despite a possible slowdown of the American economy, Greece (+47 percent), Turkey (+37 percent), and Cyprus (+33 percent) saw the most significant increases in arrivals from the US early in the year.
Tags: Europe, international tourist arrivals, ETC
